I was a scribe in the ED for a year. To echo what others have said, it's definitely great experience for medical school! If you're lucky, like I was, you might end up working with doctors who are actually excited and willing to take the time to teach you (during downtime, obviously). I worked with some awesome physicians who really became my mentors. Since all of the scribes in my program were planning to apply to some type of health professions school (MD/PA/NP), most of the docs were willing to share their med school experiences and to advise us. Even if you don't get a lot of direct teaching from the people you work with, you'll learn so much just be being in the ED and watching. Really, a lot of the job is to recognize patterns, learn by osmosis, and anticipate what the doctor might need before he/she does.
With that said, I definitely agree that it can get repetitive after a while. After your 100th STEMI, you're kind of like, okay, EKG, troponin, cath lab, GO! Hospitals also often tend to be very hierarchical and, as a scribe, you're basically the lowest rung of the ladder. This means you may not always be treated very well by doctors, nurses, etc. There were people I worked with for a year who made zero effort to learn my name and instead just barked orders at me. Thankfully, those people were in the minority. My best advice to you is to learn to read people well! Know when to stay out of the way. Make friends with the nurses, if you can. Try to do little things to make their lives easier and your life will be easier. It's also worth noting that in my program, scribes cover almost all ED shifts, including days, nights, overnights, weekends, and holidays...
All scribe programs are different. There were a lot of things that I loved about mine but unfortunately, it was ridiculously low-paying job. Depending on your finances, you may need to think about whether you can afford to work for as low as $10/hour (although some programs certainly pay more). But for myself, a nontrad several years out of college trying to support myself, working this job for a year was a serious struggle (with rent, student loans, car payment, etc). Personally, I think given how important and demanding this job can be, scribes deserve waaaaayyyy more than they usually make. The fact that it's a good experience doesn't change the fact that people need to be able to survive... and save money for med school! In any case, it was definitely a great learning experience and one that is usually looked upon highly by med schools.
